Centrifugal machine for making sugar



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GENTRIPUGAL MACHINE FOR MAKING SUGAR.

No. 262,787. Patented Aug. 15

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. G. G. JOHNSEN.

GENTRIPUGAL MACHINE POR MAKING SUGAR. No. 262,787.

Patented Aug. 15, 1882.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3. C. G. JOHNSEN.

. GENTRIFUGAL MACHINE: FOR MAKING SUGAR., No. 262,787.

Paosntedy Aug. 15, 1882.

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C. G. JOI-INSEN.

GENTRIFUGAL MACHINE FOR MAKING SUGAR. No. 262,787. Patented Aug. 15, 1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @erica CHARLES G. JOHNSEN, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

CENTRIFUGAL MACHINE FOR MAKING SUGAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,787', dated August 15, 1882.

Application tiled March 6, 1882.

To all whom it may concern Beit known thatl, CHARLEs G. J onNsEN, a citizen ot' the United States, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Centrifugal Machines for Making Sugar, of which the following is aspecification.

'lhis invention relates to that class of centrifugal machines employed for the draining ot' sugar in which a rotary basket is arranged within a. stationary casing and caused to revolve with great rapidity, so that the sugar contained within the basket will be drained or purged of the sirup or molasses by centrifugal action. As these machines revolve with great rapidity, making at least from eighthundred to nine hundred revolutions per minute, the danger attending their useis considerable.

Oneobject of lnyinvention is to so construct the machine as to obviate the danger incident to the use of other machines. A further object is to so simplify the machine that it can be used by labor not expert; also, to lessen the expense of construction, and otherwise improve the construction and combination ot' parts. These objects I attain by means ofthe apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a side elevation ot' the machine with certain parts shown in section; Fig. 2, a top or plan view with the basket, spindle, and upper portion of the machine removed. Fig. 3 is a section taken on a vertical plane through the basket. Figa is a top or plan view of the frame and elastic bearings for the basket-spindle. Fig. 5 is a detail view lof a portion of the elastic bearing.

The letter A indicates a heavy cast-metal bed-plate, which is adapted to support the entire machine. The bed-plateis provided upon its under side with vertical iianges c, which constitute legs for elevating the base-plate.

B indicates a horizontal slidable plate, that rests at its ends upon the rails b, which are secure-ly bolted to the main base-plate. The slidable plate B is provided with slots b at its ends, and in the tracks are inserted set-screws, which pass through saidslots, whereby the plate will be guided and steadied in its movement, and also secured in position upon the (No model.)

rails which support it by tightening up the setscrews.

C C are two standards, that are bolted to the said slidable plate, and these standards are connected together by means of a base-plate, c, whereby great strength and rigidity are imparted to the structure. The upper ends ot' these two standards provide bearings for arotary shaft, D, which carries the belt-pulley E for driving the centrifugal machine by beltconnection, the fast and loose belt-pulleys E F, for the belt f, by means of which power is obtained, being also mounted upon said shaft. By means of the above construction and Iarrangement of parts the slidable plate, carrying the standards, can be adjusted horizontally upon its supporting-tracks in order to tighten up the beltt' when necessary.

G indicates the belt-shifter, which is forked at its upper end, so as to embrace the belt, and at its lower end itis secured upon one end of a long horizontal rock-shaft, which at this end of the machine is supported in bearings g upon the plate B. This long rock-shaft eX- tends over the main base-plate to the other end of the machine, where it is supported in a suitable bearing, g', and provided withahandlever, G', which is near the draining apparatus. By this arrangement the belt-shifter at the power end of the machine will be under control of an attendant at the opposite end of the machine, where the said draining apparatus is located.

Upon the base-plate is secured a step-bracket, H, consisting of a hollow metal block iianged around its base and formed with an interior seat for the step-bearing h of the basket-spindle. This step-bearing consists of a tubular metal casting formed with a step or seatin its partly-closed lower end, in which the spindle is centered. It is'also formed with an annular shoulder, against which is tted a ring, h', convexed, as shown, and seated in the step-bracket H. The spindle passes through a sleeve, h2, that is fitted within the step-bearing 7i, and the upper end of the latter, above said sleeve, is enlarged, so as to form an oilchamber, h3, into which oil for lubricating the spindle and its bearings is received. The opening at the top of this oil-chamber has a greater diameter than the diameter of the IOC spindle, so as to allow the oil to pass into the oil-chamber.

I refers to the belt-pulley upon the basketspindle K, the driving-belt t' being passed around such pulley. The pulley I is formed with a vertical oil-passage, t2, through which the lubricant can pass and then drip down into the oil-chamber h3. The said pulley is enlarged at its lower end to form a brake-wheel, L, against which any suitable brake-shoe can b'e applied by means of the brake-lever l,such brake mechanism not being shown. This brake-wheel surrounds and covers the top of the step-bracket and step-bearin g, whereby dust or other objectionable matter is prevented from entering the oilchamber.

Therotary basket M, for containing the sugar to be purged, is composed of a cylindrical body of lange-iron, the ends ot" the sheet being brought together and a plate riveted on the outside to hold the same together. This body is formed with perforations m, each about one-fourth of an inch in diameter and about one inch apart, so as to allow the passage ofthe molasses or sirup expelled from the sugar. The bottom m and the cap m2 of the basket are preferably ot' cast-iron and of suitable strength, the bottom being provided with a tapering hub, m3, which receives the upper end of the spindle that supports the basket. To give increased strength to the basket in order to prevent breakage, wroughtiron bands m4 are shrunk on the same and all of said parts riveted together, so as to make a strong rigid basket. The inside of the basket is lined with two grades of brass or other suitable metal wire mesh-work, as indicated by the letters m5 and m, the coarser being next to thc cylindrical shell composing the body of the basket, portions only of such mesh or wiregauze being shown in Fig. 3. Thebasket is properly balanced on its spindle, and the pulley, before referred to, keyed on the latter, so that when the spindle is rotated the basket willberevolved and thesaccharinematter within the basket purged of all sirup,whicl'1 passes through the wire mesh or gauze and the perforations in the body of the basket. The basket is surrounded by the two-part cylindrical covering N N', and below the basket is a conical diaphragm, a, (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1,) upon which any sirup detlected inwardly from the walls of the casing will be conducted back toward the same. Any suitable outlet for the sirup can be provided near the lower edge of the lower portion of the cover or casing N. A

The elastic bearin g for centering the spindle is as follows:

l? indicates an annular frame or ring-plate mounted upon the standards p, that rise from the base-plate A. This rin g-plate is provided with a set of radial arms, p', which constitute supports for the casing N, that connects with the casing N', so as to inclose the basket.

A tubular sleeve or bearing, It, for the spindle is located centrally within the ring-plate.

Around an inner annular ange, r, formed upon the rin g-plate, are arranged the springs 1t', having their inner ends fitted in seats r2, located around the outer wall of the annular ange and through holes in the liange, and these springs pass the spring-bolts S, that are connected with a flange, t", on the central bearing, R, by means of the short horizontal plates T, arranged in pairs and bolted at their ends to the said flange r and to the radial springbolts S by means of short vertical tie-bolts t. Springs t', arranged upon these bolts t, are interposed between the flange of the bearin g R and the plates T, the latter being clamped upon the said springs by means ot'nuts t2, fitted upon the screw-threaded ends of the bolts. The spring-bolts S also pass through the cap-washers U, which lit the outer ends of springs R', and upon the outer screw-threaded ends of the bolts are nuts V, that are tighened up against the cap-washers. From this arrangement it will be seen that a spring-resistance is opposed to the movement of the bearing lt in any direction, and hence should the charge be unequally distributed in the basket the elastic bearing formed by the devices described will restore the equilibrium ot' the basket in a few revolutions ot' thc latter without danger of breakage.

In conclusion I will observe that I do not claim separately any ot' the elements ot' this machine, and also that many of them are substantially found in other centrifugal machines for draining sugar.

In machines ot' this character the basket and spindle revolve with great velocity,'and it has frequently happened that during operation the mechanism becomes disorganized and certain parts have been thrown oft by centrifugal force and occasioned loss of life.

It is essential that the machine-should combine great strength with accuracy ot` adjustment and freedom of motion, and that each element, while performing its appropriate duty in the best possible way, should operate in conjunction with the other elements, so as to enable me to attain hy my organization of parts an improved machine devoid, so far as can now be known, of flaw or irregular or imperfect action in any one part.

In United States Patent No.125,036 the arrangementofthedriving-pulley and step-brackets for the basket-spindle is substantially similar in most respects to that employed by me, the block in which the spindle is stepped in said patent being, however, confined in the box by elastic blocks, while in my machine the block or step-bearing for the spindle has an inner sleeve, through which the spindle passes, and a ring rounded upon its under side is fitted to the lower end of the block or step-bearin g and arranged within the box; also, in said patent the basket consists of a single perforated drum or shell, while in mine the basket has-a double cylindrical perforated sieve, which, as the basket must be revolved with great rapidity, tends to retain'the sugar and allow the liquid IOO IIO

to be drawn off more effectively than where but one sieve is employed. Said patent does not show the conical hub for the spindle within the basket, and the governor or elastic starbuifer compresses a hub connected by single rods and plates Vwith springs, and not by the double plates with intervening springs on the bolts which secure the plates together, as shown in my improved machine. In another machine the basket has a conical hub for the spindle, but such feature is not claimed as a novel element.

In Patent No. 224,674 the basket has an outer perforated wall,with a cylindrical wiregauze lining located within and separate from said wall, with an annular space between the two, and within the basket are other cylindrical walls or shells. In my machine the outer wall is perforated, and within and in juxtaposition to this are the two sieves of different grades. This arrangement I have found to be productive of better effects and to draw off the liquid and retain the sugar better than where two perforated outer walls are located with'a. space between them, since the sugar will ind its way into such space, and thus clog the basket.

In a German patent, No. 7,082 of 1878, the spindle passes through a sleeve in a step-bearing, which latterhas also a pairofinner sleeves, and its lower end is rounded and stepped in a concave bearing-surface, the lower end of the spindle being screw-threaded and fitted in one of said sleeves. The difference between such arrangement and mine will be apparent. This patent has not the double sieve, nor has it. the arrangementof star-buffer shown by me. Also, a step-bearing in a centrifugal sugar-machine has been formed ot' a casing having an oilchamber at its top, and a sleeve fitted within acentralbore extendingdown part way through the center of the casting, the spindle being inserted in said sleeve, and the casting being rounded at its bottom and supported in a cupshaped seat. Hence I do not claim broadly any of the elements described in said machine; but

What I claim is- In a centrifugal sugar-machine, the hereindescribed rotary basket-spindle, the hollow step-bracket H, secured to the base-plate, the step-bearing h, seated in the step-bracket, and composed of a tubular metal casting, with a step in its partly-closed end for the spindle, a ring, h', fitted in said casting, a sleeve, h2, and an oil-chamber, h3, the belt-pulleyLlocated on the basket-spindle above said step-bearing, and formed with an oil-passage, 2, and with an enlarged portion, L, constituting the brakewheel, the rotary basket M, mounted upon the spindle and formed of a perforated shell or drum, with a bottom, m', and cap m2, the tapering hub m3 on the bottom of the basket, the double wire-gauze sieve of different grades located against the perforated basket or drum for draining olf the fluid, the ring-plate P, mounted upon standards that rise from the bed-plate, the radial arms of the ring-plate for supporting the casing N, that iucloses the basket, the tubular bearing R, for the spindle, located centrally on the ring-plate, the springs It', located around a flange, l", on the ring-plate, and having their inner ends fitted in seats r2, the bolts S, connected with a ange, fr', on the centralbearing, R, by pairs of horizontal plates T, bolted at their ends on said ilange r and to the radial bolts S by means of vertical bolts t, the sprin gs t', located upon the vertical bolts between the ilange of the central tubular bearing and the horizontal plates, that are bolted together in pairs, the nuts t2, for clamping said plates upon the springs, and the capwashers U on the horizontal bolts, and clamp- ,ing the ends of springs R', said members being all constructed, relatively arranged, and organized as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

UHAS. Gr. JOHNSEN.

Witnesses:

J. OHABAND, W. H. CHURCHILL. 

